CBI indulging in a witch-hunt: Jagan

CBI indulging in a witch-hunt: Jagan

Hitting out at Congress and the Central Bureau of Investigation, Y S Jaganmohan Reddy who is facing probe for allegedly owning illegal assets today charged the party with indulging in a "witch-hunt" through the agency even as he showered praise on the Bharatiya Janata Party for raising the issue of "injustice" meted out to him.

The son of former Andhra Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, however, made it clear that his YSR Congress Party would never support the BJP "at any level" as they were ideologically different.

Reddy said he had prepared a detailed note on how the CBI is adopting "a one-sided approach" in Andhra Pradesh and will be circulating it among various political parties.

'I am thankful to Sushma Swaraj for her support'

"In fact, I am here to meet every opposition party leader and the prime minister, to tell him about what the CBI is doing and whether it is moving in the right direction or not.... In Andhra Pradesh, the CBI is not moving in the right direction, the direction in which it should be moving."

Reddy thanked the BJP and its leader Sushma Swaraj for coming out in his support.

"I am thankful to the BJP and Sushma Swaraj that despite all the differences that my father and my party have towards BJP all along, still the BJP has come forward. I am thankful to her for having raised the matter of injustice. I will meet her to thank her for supporting me, inspite of having ideological differences."

He, however, also made it clear, "We will definitely be not supporting the BJP at any level.... We have made our stand very clear categorically that ideologically the BJP and our party stand on a different footing."

'The CBI has pre-conceived notions of implicating me'

Accusing the CBI of trying to implicate him, Reddy said he will apprise political parties, "as to what kind of injustice is being meted out and what kind of role the CBI is playing. I will be meeting every one of them. I will be meeting Mulayam Singh, Sharad Pawar, communists and others. But Sushma Swaraj, I will be meeting personally to thank her."

The Kadapa member of Parliament, who fell out with the Congress after his father's death, charged the CBI with "witch-hunting" and "having pre-conceived notions of implicating him".

"So much so that the objective of CBI investigation is there to check out whether something has happened or not. Instead, their objective is to implicate."

'Chandrababu gave land to many, but nothing was initiated'

He accused the Congress of witch-hunting by using the CBI to target him.

"If you have pre-conceived notions to implicate someone and you are looking for that, then it does not become investigation, it is witch-hunting," he said.

He also accused the Congress party of indulging in "mudslinging" and trying to malign his father's name. On the disproportionate assets case against him, Reddy said, "I am the 52nd respondent, but where have the state government agencies gone, who are respondents 1 to 10. In fact, the state did not even file the counter.

"For nine years Chandrababu Naidu ruled and gave land for many like Emaar, IMG, but nothing was initiated," he said referring to the Telugu Desam Party chief.